Gilberto re-joins Panathinaikos as technical director
Thursday, May 19th, 2016Gilberto Silva has re-joined his former club as technical director.
The statement from Panathinaikos is as follows:
“Panathinaikos welcomes Gilberto Silva back to the family.
“Starting from today and for the following three years, our Brazilian former player has been assigned as the new football director of our Club!
“Panathinaikos FC announces the beginning of its collaboration with Gilberto Silva. Gilberto signed a three year contract and is the new football director of the team.”
Gilberto played for the Greek club between 2008 and 2011, and is now Director of Football. What exactly is a Director of Football, anyway?
“The technical director looks after a whole host of things that offer an element of continuity above and beyond the to-ing and fro-ing of individual managers. The role tends to include, and this is by no means a comprehensive list: responsibility for and the overseeing of the academy, the training ground, the infrastructure, medical, physiotherapy, conditioning, fitness, nutrition, hydration, rest, well being, and culture and behavioural standards within the club.”
The direction that Gilberto would take in his post-playing career was unclear for a while, but it’s interesting to see that Gilberto is moving towards the more back-office side of club football – rather than the player-coaching side. It’ll be interesting to see how his role develops.